


Alpha Beta

by Mirob (DestielOfDoom)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Castiel, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4303338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestielOfDoom/pseuds/Mirob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is a beta who has had a crush on his best friend, Dean Winchester for a long time. But Dean is an alpha, and Castiel fears that Dean's alpha-senses will one day find his true, omega mate, and Castiel is not brave enough to risk a crushed heart. Luckily, Dean is very stubborn and has other plans...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alpha Beta

҉

  
  
”Stupid, stupid,” and ”fool, fool, fool.” Murmurs Castiel to himself, as he paces his kitchen floor, in an endless heap of frustration. He has been going at it for approximately twenty minutes without a break, pacing about and voicing his frustrations.

“I am an idiot,” Castiel exclaims loudly, finally stopping dead in his tracks and slumping forward on the kitchen counter, head resting on his arms. ‘Why can I never do anything right?’ He thinks, feeling resigned, sighing loudly as he goes over the event leading to all of his frustrations.

_Maybe, maybe if I stay in today – stay in for the rest of today, stay in the whole weekend, that’ll be better, right? Time makes everything better._

He looks up, out his kitchen window, at his beautiful garden, almost glowing in the afternoon light. The garden always makes him feel better. Cas drags himself reluctantly from the kitchen counter, and makes a beeline for his backdoor, when the doorbell suddenly rings. Fuck.

He could ignore it. He could sneak out the backdoor, and pretend he never heard it. But what if it is a package for him? Or if it is Charlie? What if it is not Dean...

On the other hand, if it is Dean, he will continue knocking for a while, and then he will start looking for Cas – the garden is probably the first place he will look. He has known Dean long enough to be familiar with his stubborn nature, and it is not like he can hide from him forever. They are best friends after all.

With another big, resigned sigh, he turns on his heels and quietly steps towards his front door. The ringing has ended, and Cas considers taking the backdoor one more time, but is startled by a determined knock on the door.

“Cas?” Dean says loudly on the other side. “Come on man, I know you are in there.”

He does not sound angry, but he has this determined edge to his voice that tells Cas he won’t get out of this. Unless…

“Cas?” Dean tries one more time, followed by another knock. “Please open up.”

“Dean, I’m ill, I don’t think it's a good idea to let you in.” Cas replies with his most worn and tired voice. “You’ll just catch it as well.”

“Bullshit!” Dean calls back, “You were fine when I saw you a few hours ago. The only thing you suffer from is avoidance.”

Castiel feels a blush creeping up his cheeks, embarrassment from being outed. Before he has the mind the form a reply, Dean is at it again:

“Cas, would you please let me in? I'm not angry with you. I don't hate you. Don’t make up anything stupid I might think about you, none of it is true. I just really think we should sit down and talk, so please let me in. I prefer your face to the door.”

Cas knows he has lost, he is not getting out of this. Not with Dean standing there, so determined and so nice. He drags his feet forward, and hesitantly unlocks the door.

As he opens, he gets an eyeful of the eternal ray of sunshine that is Dean, and as always Cas cannot keep himself from giving him a small yet tired smile.

“Come in.” he grumbles, and moves away from the door.

“Thanks, Cas.” Dean says, closing the door and following him to the living room. They both get down in Cas’ old, worn yet cosy sofa, with Cas in one end, feet up, tucked under his chin, and Dean sprawled out carelessly in the other end. Cas does everything to avoid looking at Dean, and Dean keeps silent for a few minutes, until Cas cannot keep himself from looking up. Dean is still smiling and staring intently at him, and before Cas can stop himself he blurts out an exasperated:

“What??”

Dean just chuckles and smiles even wider, before he says: “You.”

Cas looks down and wants to feel annoyed with the eternally frustrating man sitting across from him, but it is really hard when he is being so – nice. Instead, he breathes out and looks back up:

“What do you want to talk about?” He says, fearing much from the reply, but never expecting Dean to laugh as loudly as he does.

“Oh, I don’t know, Cas,” He says, trying and failing to stifle his laugh, and needing a few more moments to get it back together. “Maybe the fact that you grew pale as a ghost and ran out of a coffee shop a few hours ago, when I asked you to go out with me?”

Castiel winces when he hears how Dean words it. _Fuck. It was as bad as he remembers. There’s no way he’ll be able to fix this._

“Cas?” Dean probes. “Please just talk to me.”

“I..” Cas begins, searching for the right words. “I was just surprised, really.”

“Really…?” Dean replies, shaking his head. “And why is it I don’t believe you?”

_Ouch. Cas knows he deserves it, he does, but he is already a bit fed up with the interrogations. Especially when he knows he could answer all of Dean’s questions, just like that. But he is scared. And it is not like he has been planning on hurting Dean, but he never- even in his wildest dreams - expected Dean to ask him out, ever. And it does not matter he himself has been interested in Dean for months. Okay, maybe more like a year… one and a half year. Definitely not more than two years, but it has always been more like a fantasy for him. Something he could never have, and certainly never should. It is too dangerous, he feels too vulnerable and it’s just, biologically speaking, it is not supposed to work this way. It is not..._

“Cas, you're spacing out. Please talk to me; you're scaring me a little bit.” Dean says, visibly worried. He has leaned forward, and one hand is resting on Cas’ knee. When did he do this?

Castiel shakes himself out of his thoughts, and looks back at Dean:

“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry about earlier, it was very rude of me. I was just very surprised, and I didn't know what to say so…”

“So you left. You ran out the door instead of telling me?” Dean answers, with an eyebrow raised in question, leaning back against the armrest.

“What did you want me to say, Dean? You caught me off-guard?”

“I don’t know, Cas.” Dean replies, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Yes, please? No thanks? Can I think about it? Can I get more tea? Anything! But instead you ran out on me!”  
  
Cas feels shame soaring through his veins again, and he knows Dean is right. He acted like a complete asshole, and only due to his own issues. He could have let him down nicely. They would probably still be friends, and would not be sitting here having this conversation.

“Look Dean,” Cas tries “I am really sorry I embarrassed you….” But Dean cuts him off.

“Embarrassed me? You don’t get it at all. I don’t care what a few patrons think. I don’t care about looking like a stupid fool, as long as I know you are happy, all right? This is not about me being embarrassed, this is about you acting so out of character that I want nothing else, than making sure you are okay!” Dean finishes, pinning him with his stare.

Castiel gulps, and lowers his eyes again. “You are too nice to me, Dean.” He feels even worse.

“Yeah, well, you usually deserve it. You need some more niceness in your life, and I..I just really like you, okay? You are much more than a friend to me and it has taken me a while to get used to that, all right? But it's okay that you don’t feel the same way, but just tell me already. Don’t run out on me.” He finishes, sporting a small, insecure smile.

Castiel has been watching him intently during his confession, and now he feels something break inside himself at Dean’s latest words. He is not sure if it is his heart or his resolve or a combination of both, but before he can stop himself, he is blurting out:

“No, no Dean, it’s not like that at all.”

“No?” Dean says, fixing his full attention with those green eyes on Cas. “Then?”

“I.. I like you too,” He says, looking down at this hands. “And I have for a while. But I don’t think we are compatible…”

“Compatible?” Dean says, questioning.” I’m not sure what you mean? As I see it, you are quite good at laughing at my lame jokes, and I don’t mind helping you in that beloved garden you have – I don’t really see why compatibility is a problem...”

“No, not like that, Dean. I mean… eh biologically. You are an alpha, and I am a beta.”

“Yes? I know?” Dean says, evidently confused. “A lot of alphas and betas date? I don’t see why it makes a difference. Do you have some special alpha phobia you've never told me about? You've been really good at hiding it then…”

“No, that's not the problem. Or yes it is… but not like that… I… the situation is not ideal…but…I…I don’t know how to explain it.” Cas utters, feeling upset, and buries his head in his arms, resting on top of his knees. He can feel his heart hammering in his chest, and blood pumping around his body. He feels hot and uncomfortable but mostly frustrated by his lack of ability to explain himself. How can he make Dean understand?

“Cas,” Dean says and he feels a hand on his head. “Please look at me and try to explain. I’m not mad at you or anything; I just really want to understand.”

Castiel lifts his head, and sees Dean up close. He must have scooted forward, because now his face is a few inches away from his own, both hands now resting on either side of his body.

Dean smiles and continues: “You say we're not biologically compatible?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you afraid your lack of heat will not satisfy me?”

“No, not really.”

“Are you afraid you won’t be able to take my knot?”

“Dean!” Cas exclaims, blushing furiously, and pushes him away with a hand on his chest.

Dean just laughs, and sits back against the armrest: “Sorry Cas, but then I don’t really know what the problem is.”

“I just…” Cas begins, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “I'm just afraid that one day, you will catch this amazing smell that you just can’t ignore. It will drag you along, and lead you to your one true omega-mate, and then you’ll leave me, and I cannot let that happen!” He hides his face back in his arms, before he has time to look at Dean, but his reply comes quickly:

“What the actual fuck, Cas, are you even for real?”

Castiel looks back up at him, completely confused: “ What? Yes…I…of course I am?”

“Oh, wow, this.” Dean says from his end of the sofa, and downright faceplams. He looks back at Cas: “You've built your unwillingness to get involved with me on the fact that I someday might be lured away from you, by the perfect omega smell? Are you for real?”

He stares at Cas for a few seconds, and then starts laughing. He laughs for minutes, while Castiel gets more and more confused and also annoyed. As Dean is quieting down and wiping tears from his eyes, Cas has developed a full-on pout accompanied by a frown - his own version of a bitch-face.

Dean sees it, and looks like he is about to start laughing again, but Cas beats him to it:

“If you laugh one more time, Winchester, I swear….”

“Oh, I'm so sorry Cas, but you look so cute when you do that. And with all the crap you said, I just can’t…”

Cas has had enough, and gets up from the sofa, now the one to fix Dean with his stare; an angry, cold one: “Yeah, I am just a laughingstock, right? I know you would never hurt me intentionally, but one of my high schools friends dated an alpha for four years, until he someday caught the smell of this ‘wonderful omega’ and just had to have her. I know how this biology works, I know how powerful it is – I know it must be damn hard to control. But it does not change the fact that this **alpha** left my **beta** friend – just like that. And she never saw him again. It happens, so excuse me for being a bit protective of my own feelings.”

He makes a move to turn and walk away from the sofa, but Dean is quicker, grabbing his wrist and getting up to be at eyelevel with Castiel. He lets go of Cas wrist, and looks him in the eyes:

“Cas, I know it is a thing. I'm not laughing at your for protecting yourself. I'm laughing because you’ve never noticed I cannot smell.”

Castiel blinks. Once, twice, three times and then says: “What?” Eyes wide in confusion.

“I cannot smell.” Dean replies, confidently. “I was born without the ability to smell.”

“But you…you…” Castiel utters, totally dumbstruck, while feelings and thoughts shift around within him, rearranging themselves, creating new truths. “You have never… all these years… and you never…”

“Nope.” Dean replies, smiling wide. “And you have never noticed it. You are such a dork. A cute dork, but a bit of a dork.” He winks at Cas, and drops down into the sofa once more, while Cas just stands there, completely lost.

He finally turns to look down at Dean: “So you have never…You are not…”

“No Cas,” Dean cuts in. “I have never smelled anything, not flowers, not food and never an omega. It's kinda embarrassing for an alpha really, so I've never really told anyone outside family. Apparently we alphas rely so much on our smell to find our mates, watch out for other alphas, and determine emotional state of another person and so on, but I've never had any of that. Ever. I am still an alpha though, I still have my rut, and I still feel protective, especially when it comes to family…and you.”

Castiel gets back down on the sofa, slowly, not taking his eyes from Deans.

“Ah, and of course, I have a knot.” Dean says, winking at Castiel once more.

Castiel blushes a deep shade of red, and looks away, mumbling: “And clearly no shame whatsoever.”

“Nope,” Dean confirms, eyes crinkling lightly in a smile. “No shame, no smell but everything else should be working fine.”

“Are you sure you are sane?” Cas quips, smiling back, hesitantly, and visibly relaxing for the first time this afternoon.

“Darn, you got me there.” Dean replies, smiling widely. “Shame, smell and saneness. The three S’s, right?”

“Right.”

Suddenly, Dean is serious once again: “But… where do we go from here?” He is griping at a striped pillow, and Cas knows he is back to being nervous. His ability to jump between emotions is something to behold.

“I don’t know,” Cas says, “I know the beta in me would want me to sit down and consider ‘all of this’ for a day or two, and then come back with a thought through answer.”

Castiel sees Dean falter a bit, and sends him a smile before he continues: “But I guess I would be okay with some ice-cream.”

Dean looks back up: “Now?”

“Yes, if you are up for it? Maybe watch a few movies afterwards?” Cas says.

Dean is practically glowing, when he returns Castiels’ smile and adds: “I don’t know, Cas. I think the alpha in me would want to bend you over the table here, and fuck you into oblivion. But I guess ice-cream is a good compromise for both of us.”

Castiel just laughs, as he gets up from the sofa with Dean. “That sounds like a perfect compromise.” He says, as he drags Dean out the door.

 

҉

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, thoughts and suggestions are always welcome! ^^


End file.
